Airplane-radiator



E. T. CURRAN.

AIRPLANE RADIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 19. 1918.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

w I Grime I E. T. CURRAN.

AIRPLANE RADIATOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-19.1918.

1,374, 1 90. Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Z EDWARD Tam/m.

EDWARD T. CURB/AN, DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

. AIRPLANE-RADIATOR.

. Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 12, 1921.

Application filed October 19, 1918. Serial No. 258,815.

To all whom it may concem:

Be it known that I, EDWARD T. CURRAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Mlchigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Airplane-Radiators, and declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to radiators adapted for use on airplanes and like devices.

Heretofore much difficulty has been experienced in keeping the radiators of air planes from leaking. The sudden shock of descending and striking the earth is very apt to burst soldered joints, another weak point due to their ordinary construction. An object also is to save as much weight as possible in the construction of the radiator and still leave it efficient and sufliciently strong to resist the rough usage incident to such device. Another object of my invention is to provide a radiator for airplanes and means for more efiiciently cooling the engine with the same weight and volume of liquid and also to obtain means for controlling the admission of air to the radiator making such means adjustable, a matter which is quite necessary owing to the sudden changes 1n temperature and velocities to which it is subjected. The advantages thereof and the nature of the invention will more fully appear in the following description and the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is the front of the radiator which has an opening for the purpose of permit; ting the propeller shaft to-extend therethrough.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section' of Fig. 1 on the line X-X with said features added which could only appear in Fig.2.

v Fig. 3 is a cross section of Fig. 1 on the line Y-Y.

Fig. 4 is a rear view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a view part1 in section on the line Z--Z of Fig. 1 and s owing an enlarged View of Fig. 2.

Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view of the vertical tubes which are shown in Fig. 3 and which appear in Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a view of the peculiar means for delivering cold air to the cylinders of the V-shaped twelve-cylinder engine of the usual type.

In the drawings, similar letters refer to similar parts.

In Fig. 1 which represents the front of the radiator, A is the front shield. This front is curved as shown in Fig. 3. Perforations are made in this sheet, a large one at B in line with the crank shaft of the engine, not shown, and through which the propeller shaft, not shown, extends. The front piece A is double, as shown in Fig. 5 with a water space A between them. These two plates are punched out and the edges brought down together leaving openings A These perforations extend over the whole face of the frontal sheets united as shown in Fig. 1 at A A by welding the edges of the perforations in the respective sheets when they are brought together. I am thus enabled to make a compound frontal section of the radiator with air passages which is shown in F ig. 1 as A, A Inside or back of the air spaces of the shell thus formed in front is a damper A through which there are perforations, A and by raising or lowering this damper the full size of the perforations may be maintained or regulated at will which is done by a small crank A operated by a rod and handle A carried to any convenient point within reach of the operator. In rising or in high altitudes or rapidly descending when the air rapidly cools we'can start with the full openings from the ground and gradually close them so as to prevent the too rapid chilling of the engine and its insuficient work caused thereby. Passing now to Fig. 3 in which A is the frontal shield, A is the rear shield formin a curved water chamber, and since the section is taken on the solid lines Y-Y, the perforations in the shields do not appear. Back of this shield are placed vertical pipes 13 B of a peculiar shape, the cross section of which is shown in Fig. 6. These pipes are staggered in the drawings in Fig. 3 so that air passing through is compelled to be broken up and averted thereby coming.

in contact with a. great amount of surface in the manner shown in Fig. 3. These pipes are made of stamping and wherever edges come together as shown in Fig. 6 at a, a, the edges are welded by either blow pipe or electricity. In Fig. 2 and in Fig. 5 these pipes are shown, Fig. 5 being on an enlarged scale of Fig. 2. These pipes at their upper and lower ends communicate with water chambers B B of course with water tight connections. .The lower water chamber B also communicates with the water space between the two shells of the front of the radiator. The water chamber B does not communicate with said space except by an indirect means as shown in Fig. 2 in which B is a direct communicating pipe and B an sirable by the by-pass control. In Fig. 4

this is shown at the to of the figure. Some of the central tubes B extend to the opening B and communicate with a waterspace between two shells so that the circulation'in the tubes is somewhat indirect. I have shown this circulation by arrows. In this sense the circulation of the central set of tubes is somewhat irregular. The water chamber around the opening B only extends to the rear shells of the front so that the water space in that front shell construction does not'communicate with the water space around the opening B. The cylinders in a twelve cylinder engine are universally set at an angle so that the cylinders work upon a v common shaft. This is well understood.

Between thecylinders I have placed a tube C as shown in Fig. 7 with angular openings C, C. This is shown somewhat in section in Fig. 7 Air passin througgh the opening Av and between the tu es B 1 as shown in Fig. 3 will be caught by a flaring end of the,

tube C and be forced throughthe tube C and dischargedagainst some-or all of the cylinders through the side 0 ening (Y. It will be seen that this flow of air upon the cylinders can be regulated by the damper A My radiator is made of sheet metal having its joints welded, this metal being treated to prevent rust. The construction makes a strong radiator which is not liable to be ruptured by sudden stoppages of water. The water chambers are so shaped as to give elasticity to the walls. The cooling and radiating effects can thus be controlled.

The shape of the tubes and surfaces tends to prevent damage from freezing as the expansion thus .caused can be taken up by the spring of the metal. The arrangement of the tubes affords a baflling meanstothe turbulent .air passing between them and compels it to deviate repeatedly from a straight line course by its impinging upon the various curved surfaces that it meets in its tortuous course. It will be noted that the arrangement is such upon the respective sides that the a r is deflected toward the of the tube C wherein it is deflected tolouvers or other side tubes onto the en ine cylinders M M heretofore described. do not intend to limit myself to special tubes as shown in the drawings by which the air may be deflected onto the engine cylinders but any means of deflection such as louvers may be employed. Other forms might be given this tube C as it might be made conical or the tubes or louvers could be enlarged toward the rear end of the engine. The mode of operation is obvious from the foregoing description, and it is also obvious that the opening and closing of the control can be duplicated and only part of the radiator opened and closed to suit conditions of flight or temperature, and perhaps to change head temperature. It is also obvious that the opening B may be circular instead of square as shown in the drawing, or it may be of any other convenient form, it being intended that the opening B shall be surrounded by a water jacket whatever may be its form, as'also that the form of nose or head may be of any design or shaped so as best to serve its purpose.

What I claim is:

1. In a radiator, the double outer shell, a space adapted to be filled with cooling liquid between the walls thereof, said double outer shell having perforations therethrough for the passage of air, said space being adapted to communicate with the water jacket of anengine by means of tanks, a series of crescent shaped pipes connecting the said tanks and so arranged as to form tortuous air passages therethrough and cooperating with the air passages through the double shell.

2. In a radiator, the combination of a double walled outer shell, a space adapted to be filled with cooling liquidbetween the walls thereof, said outer shell having perforations therethrough for the passage of air,

said space being adapted to communicate with the water jacket of an engine, a series of crescent-shaped pipes connecting with said tanks and so arranged as to form tortuous passages therethrough and cooperating with the air passages through the shell, said shell communicating with the upper tank by an alternative passage, a valve in said passage, and means controlling said valve whereby the circulation of the cooling fluid can be varied.

3. In a radiator, the combination of a double walled outer shell," a space adapted to be filled with cooling liquid between the walls thereof, said double outer shell having perforations therethrough for the passage of air, said space being adapted to communicombination of a ize cate with the water jacket of an engine, a series of crescent shaped pipes connecting said tanks so arranged as to form tortuous passages therethrough and cooperating with the air passages through the shell, a series of shutterslocated back of said shell and between it and the aforesaid crescent In testimon tion.

y whereof, I sign this specifica- EDWARD T. GURRAN. 

